Jason,Mark,Walter
Thanks so much guys for the kind offers, but getting bailed out is not my style.
I never expected to make money with a private course, but after 5 years I did expect to generate enough cash to at least cover the annual maintenance, but it did not happen. We are actually get less traffic than last year.
Keeping the course maintained is weed-eating thirty acres three times during the summer since none of it can be mowed. For one person, by the time you finish the last of 25 holes, it's time to start again on the first hole. I could do it when my kids were around to cover me on the huge summertime chore of shearing and shaping 25,000 Christmas trees, but now that they have moved on to bigger and better things, it is apparent that I cannot handle both tasks.
As we speak I am still trying to finish last years shearing and the buds have already broken...not good.
The other part of the problem is that I am not comfortable with having people on the course when it is wet or windy, but I often cave in to requests to people who drive in and want to play in marginal conditions, especially if they are on a tightly schedule roadtrip. For those of you who have played the course, you know that the things that make Sugaree unique also make it a liability concern.
So, I'm shutting it down to try and get my tree farm back where it needs to be and get ready for an on-site wedding.

Rich, I wanted to thank you for keeping the course open as long as you did to allow me a chance to throw a round there. I hope you were able to pull your truck from where we left it with minimal effort. The mountain must've known what was going on and brought the wind in protest. It was pretty surreal having it be such an obstacle, even through the trees.

I know I feel lucky to have been able to play it, and I am incredibly jealous of those who had access to it on a regular basis. If I had known that you were pulling the baskets completely, I would've offered to buy one from you. I guess I'll just have to plan a trip to Birds now to revisit them.

Always loved it up there. Played three times. Excellent course. Great vibe too.
I'm always shocked when I meet people in Charlotte (only 2 hours away) who have never played any of the mountain courses. They really missed out with your spot.

Anyway I wish you all the best and I thank you again for allowing me three mini-vacations to your perfect course.

I gave it five years to be self-sustaining and it just didn't make it. I think a stand-alone disc golf course has to have a core of local support to survive, but it never materialized, other than Burton Davis (climbtoo) who was a big help after the ice storm.
The good news is there are several other great options in the mountains ; Ashe County Park, Elk Mountain and soon there will be one on Beech Mountain to fill the void.
I want to especially plug Elk Mountain for out-of-towners. Two courses,camping,great food,a great brewery as well as other things to do for non-dgers.

really buddy?? your gonna send DGCR traffic to Elk Mtn over SP?? I can totally agree/understand of putting Ashe County atop the high country golf list but I am WAAAY more diverse than Elk Mtn these days.. When you gonna come down and see the new additions?? Again I hate to read this thread and didnt want to listen when you were telling me Sugaree is closing down this summer.. But I am open to golfers on the weekends and frankly Simple Pleasures is just a more fun course than Elk Mtn (hell the only people that play well there are athletes in prime shape haha)

Rich - I hate hearing the news, but I completely understand why it needs to be done. Thanks for all your hard work to make it one of the best courses in the region. Only played there three times, and only once with all 25 holes, but I had a blast each time.

You need to find some college students looking for an internship in landscaping or Christmas tree growing, and use their free labor to maintain the course.

Parks and Rec interns, Horticulture Interns, Ag interns, business, etc.. This is a really good idea that I know some of my friends who attend ASU would happy to be a part of.. Sugaree's Landscape alone makes it the 8th wonder of the world in my opinion and I dont want to even think about not getting to walk through these woods with my plastic I have another suggestion that may help keep maintainence to an acceptable level. So at Simple Pleasures I spend roughly $15 a year on gas for the mowers.. This is true because I have designed the course around my grandad's horse and cattle farm. The presents they leave behind very rarely get in the way, or get on your discs, and as golfers we are able to enjoy holes with more room to work the discs because the cows/horses act as mowers. Yea grandaddy has an expense in the fall and winter months in the form of feed/hay, but he already had that expense before I built Simple Pleasures. With this being said, I realize cows could not traverse the sketchy terrain up at Sugaree but I guarndamtee some goats could.. With as much land as you have up there Rich they would rarely escape into the neighbors. I would get a family or at least like 3 tho, goats by their self do tend to wander. This would only add yet another special charm to Sugaree, domesticated goats gone naturilzed on a disc golf course